TALK about seventh heaven. We were back to our best on Sunday night to beat Billingham Stars 7-1 at home.

It was a must-win game for us this weekend, no question, especially after the disappointment of our Whitley Warriors defeat the Sunday before – and the manner of it, conceding so many so late on.

It was a bit of a kick up the backside.

Spirits have been a bit low in recent weeks, but we had a team night out on Friday in Preston, which helped us a lot in terms of bringing us together.

There were a lot of sore heads on Saturday morning, so it’s not something I’d advise before every game – even for the superstitious among us.

But in terms of team bonding it had the desired effect.

We delivered probably our best performance of the season on Sunday evening.

Billingham simply couldn’t live with us.

They scored one goal in a five on three, and we were unlucky to not save that one even.

It’s been a while since we won as convincingly as that.

In recent games we’ve won or lost narrowly, but hopefully this result can spark us off on a winning run.

Fingers crossed it’s a turning point for our player-coach Jared Owen too following his hat-trick of goals.

I wouldn’t say he’s struggled, but he hasn’t been able to find the net as much as he would have wanted to.

He’s been the butt of the banter for it among the lads, and he’s blamed everything from his gloves to his stick, but I was happy for him to get the hat-trick.

It was a good night for Jake Nurse on his home debut too, while there were other candidates for man of the match. It was a tough choice because a few put their bodies on the line, but only one could get it and it went to Jared in the end.

He’s told us we can’t really afford to lose another game now. We have to push for the play-off spots.

But Sunday night proved what is possible when you all pull together.

That performance reminded us how good we can be, so the aim is to keep delivering.